[Slowhand] Washington Post Review: MCI Center, 21 June 2004

[DeltaNick]

Fleet-Fingered Clapton Gets Down and Dirty
By Dave McKenna
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 23, 2004; Page C05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62411-2004Jun22.html

The fingers are quicker than the eye. Eric Clapton's still are, anyway.
During the 59-year-old legend's show Monday at the MCI Center, there was
little use trying to match his digits' movement along the fretboard with the
notes coming through the house PA.

In a blue button-down shirt, bluejeans and really clean Nikes, Clapton
looked a lot better than somebody with his personal bio, so full of drug and
booze addictions and personal tragedies, should look. The tones he plucked,
picked and/or bent out of the strings on his designer Stratocaster -- which,
like so many of Clapton's axes, is available for purchase via auction at
Christie's -- were beautifully dirty.

Clapton opened with "Let It Rain" from his 1970 solo debut, as jangly a tune
as he's ever put to vinyl. Doyle Bramhall II, the second guitarist in
Clapton's eight-piece ensemble, took the night's first solo. Then Clapton
went on the first of many loud, long runs to clarify the band's pecking
order.

One could quibble with the order of Clapton's set list, which seemed
designed to rein in the crowd's enthusiasm until very late in the show. His
solo to end a syncopated rendition of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff," for
example, had the crowd standing and screaming. But Clapton then sat down and
went unplugged for a mini-set of deep blues (including "Me and the Devil
Blues," "They're Red Hot" and "Milkcow's Calf Blues") from his most recent
CD, "Me and Mr. Johnson," a Robert Johnson tribute. The picking was precise
and the tribute sincere, but 12-bar acoustic blues are far better suited to
a saloon than to an arena. Clapton also killed some momentum by following a
raw and raucous version of "Badge," a tune George Harrison wrote for Cream,
with "Wonderful Tonight," the wimp-rock classic from 1977's "Slowhand" LP.

But the set also contained some pleasant surprises. Clapton dug deep for
"Walk Out in the Rain," a Bob Dylan song he had recorded for 1978's
"Backless," and "Got to Get Better in a Little While," one of the
lesser-known tunes from his Derek and the Dominoes days. The iconic piece
from that period, "Layla," probably bores Clapton by now. But he delivered a
version as heavy and heartfelt as possible, compelling many fans old enough
to know better to strap on air guitars and try to ape one of the most famous
and fleet guitar breaks in rock history. Again, there was little use trying
to match their digits' movement with the notes coming through the house PA.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company